There seems to be a weird tendency at the moment to portay Ruth Davidson as if she actually were the First Minister.

In case you missed that story, that was the leader of the 2nd largest party, which does not form part of a pro-independence majority in the parliament,”ORDERING” the First Minister, who leads a pro-independence majority, to forget about something that the parties most people voted for support.

It doesn’t stop with the Daily Express though. Other outlets seem to go with the same tone, that being that Davidson is somehow capable of ordering anyone to be doing anything.

Therefore, I think it is important in the interests of clarity to lay out some of the rules…

Ruth Davidson is currently not in a position where she is able to order the First Minister around.

Her policy pronouncements do not need to be followed by anyone.

The recommendations of any “teams”or “expert groups” that she puts together do not need to be followed.

The electorate said no to Davidson’s party at the last (and well, every) Scottish Parliament election. However, they will get another chance the next time around, that is called democracy.

In fact, that is very much like the referendum question. Scotland said no to independence in 2014, but things have changed, and we will get another chance.

So Adam Tomkins perhaps should realise that the electorate said No to having Ruth Davidson make any decisions or give any orders to anyone. But just like the Independence referendum, things will change for better or worse in the next few years and the Tories will get another chance.

Adam Tomkins was, of course, speaking (freely) in his capacity as an elected (not directly) member of the second largest party of the non-governing group in a democratically elected parliament in which no one party has an overall majority.

I was very happy to be interviewed and be half the subject matter (or a third if you count the dug) of the new short film by the excellent Phantom Power (his films are all here, and you can also hear him on the podcast here).

Listening to these conversations, I think you’ll get a feel for who is working there and their motivations. Those motivations and ambitions are journalistic, political, economic, technological and others.